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What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host Heath. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, happy March for those who are listening when this episode comes out. Oh my god, I can't believe it's March already. I know, the year is already flyin'.
We're cooking. We are. So thank you so much, by the way, to William for recommending today's case. This one takes place in New York in 1999, but there are a lot of recent updates in this one. So big thanks to William for showing us this case. And oh, by the way, we just came out with another bonus episode for those who are
all caught up on going West after this episode is over. It is the case of Tina Satchwell in Ireland. This case is absolutely insane. It happened in 2017. That one also has recent updates. Oh my God, that one is just mind blowing as well. Yeah, and it's just going to frustrate you to hell. But yeah, definitely go check out that episode. We've got over a hundred other bonus episodes. They're ad free. All you got to do is subscribe on Patreon.com
or you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Yes, and thank you so much to everybody who has already subscribed. We love you all so much, and let's get into today's case. All right, guys, this is episode 386 of Going West, so let's get into it. ♪♪♪
So
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So what are you waiting for? Get Bluehost Cloud today by visiting Bluehost.com. That's Bluehost.com. In February of 1999, a teenage girl went missing while heading home from school in the Bronx. When her body was found days later in a dumpster behind a video rental store, police worked hard to find the person responsible.
And one day, DNA technology would prove the devastating and shocking identity of her killer. This is the story of Minnerly Soriano. Minnerly Soriano, who went by Minnie, and we're going to call her Minnie today, was born in Puerto Rico on January 17th, 1986 to parents Minerva and Luis.
At some point in her early childhood, Minnie and her family relocated to New York City and her parents split up. But Minnie, her mom Minerva, her younger sister Nadia, and her new stepfather Ray settled into their new life in the Bronx, moving into a sprawling apartment building on a very lively street.
The family resided in Pelham Parkway in a section of central Bronx, just east of the Bronx River Parkway. So Minnie grew into an active and happy young girl who was very well known in her neighborhood. She loved to take her bike and rollerblades out, and she and her little sister Nadia were often seen selling candy to neighbors.
Minnie was a sensitive young girl losing herself for hours in romance novels and penning poetry in her journal about love and rainbows. One of her poems read, quote, "'I spread my colors, orange, pink, and blue, down from the sky to look down on you.'"
Her best friend and classmate, Kimberly Ortiz, recalled, quote, She was so bubbly, just a sweet person in general. She always wanted to help, especially with poetry. She was so natural at it.
Minnie's journals, which were collected after her disappearance in the hopes that they could lead police to her perpetrator, were a collection of her aspirations for the future. Poems, journal entries, homework, sketches of the moon and stars, and notes on astronomy, including a collection of her favorite websites to look at when she researched the cosmos. She was so passionate about outer space that she dreamed of one day becoming an astronaut.
13-year-old Minnie was studious and bright, and made a habit of sitting in the lobby of her apartment building to complete her homework while she chatted with other residents. She was a straight-A student at F.D. Whalen Junior High School, where in 1999, she attended 7th grade. And there, Minnie was also a peer mediator for other kids.
Though her school did note that she was frequently skipping classes, this may have been to help out her family because Minnie was burdened with a lot of responsibility from a very young age. She was often seen walking to and from the laundromat to do laundry for the family and to and from the nearby 24-hour convenience store to pick up groceries.
Every day she would ride the bus home by herself and then wait at her seven-year-old sister's bus stop to walk her home. So she just always had a lot on her plate. Two days before her disappearance, Minnie was actually spotted crying at school, though it's not clear why she was crying. On the morning of Wednesday, February 24th, 1999, Minnie saw her sister Nadia off to her nearby elementary school.
and after waving goodbye to her, Minnie walked to a street corner to wait for the Bronx 12 bus headed toward her middle school, which was 2 miles or 3.2 kilometers west of her family's apartment building. The day passed mostly without incident, although Kimberly remembered that her friend Minnie had seemed upset about something. Minnie declined to divulge any more details, and Kimberly decided not to press the issue.
School concluded at 2:20 p.m. that day, and when it did, Minnie asked Kimberly if she wanted to stop at the library together. But Kimberly needed to get home that day, so she declined. So the girls said their goodbyes and they split up. And the last memory that Kimberly has of her best friend is waving goodbye and seeing her board a city bus wearing a red jacket and a black book bag bound for her sister's school.
Even today, Kimberly maintains, quote, I replay that moment over and over. I blamed myself for years because I said to myself, maybe if I asked, I would have known what she was doing. I was the last person who probably saw her alive other than her killer. Nadia left school as usual, expecting to walk outside to find her sister waiting for her. But when she emerged, Minnie was nowhere to be seen.
Nadia wound up walking home by herself and relaying to her puzzled parents that Minnie failed to show for school pickup that afternoon.
Her parents were alarmed instantly because Minnie was known to be very responsible and punctual, especially where her sister was concerned. Like nothing would have gotten in the way of Minnie picking up her sister. So by dinner time, when Minnie still had not returned home, growing very scared about what could have happened, her parents reported their 13-year-old daughter missing at 7.30 p.m. that evening.
searches began right away, fanning out from her school and her apartment building, hoping to find any sign of her. And remember, I mean, her school was only a couple miles away from her house, so the area isn't huge necessarily that they have to search, but obviously this is in the city, and technically she could be anywhere. Missing posters donned local businesses and apartment buildings, including, of course, the lobby of Minnie's own building.
The NYPD, alongside dozens of friends, family, neighbors, and local volunteers hoping to help their community, scoured the area surrounding her apartment building and school, looking for any indication of where she had gone or any sign of her belongings.
NYPD homicide detective Michael Legiovanni reported frustrated, quote, She never made it to the apartment, according to her mother and her stepfather.
But after four agonizing days of no news or developments, a shocking discovery came in the dumpster behind a local video store. Sunday, February 28th, 1999 brought another day of relentless searching for Minnie. As they had since the day she disappeared, Minnie's family once again walked the streets looking for her.
That day, they were joined by two of their neighbors from the apartment building, a couple named Marianne and Roger. The couple said later that they can recall the exact moment that Minerva and Ray received the terrible news that their daughter had been found deceased. Marianne remembers Minerva throwing herself into her arms, sobbing when the word of the discovery reached them.
Minnie's neighbor Roger said sadly, quote, Her other neighbor Marianne added, quote, Nearby, Minnie's stepfather Ray muttered, quote,
Minnie's lifeless body was pulled from a dumpster behind a retail store, and though it now houses the Bay Plaza Shopping Center in the Bronx, this section of the borough known as Co-op City once housed a Hollywood video rental store. Some reports have claimed that it was a maintenance worker who came across Minnie's body, while others have said that it was a local homeless man.
But regardless of who made the tip, a man came across Minnie's body in the dumpster, bound in the fetal position with green gaffers tape and wrapped in black plastic bags. The store was located 2 miles or 3.2 kilometers northeast of her family's apartment building and nearly 4 miles or 6.4 kilometers from her school.
One detective who was working Minnie's case recalled, quote, Michael also noted that Minnie had been placed inside rather carefully when compared with other homicide victims that they found. Detective Michael remembers, quote,
And that sounds kind of awful because obviously this person didn't care or they wouldn't have done this unthinkable thing to her. But I understand what he means for sure. But it is always important to note how the body was treated because it can sometimes lead investigators to conclude that the killer knew the victim, kind of like if their body is covered in a blanket or something and they see into that.
Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this on this show before about how, you know, if the victim is known to the killer, like if it's a personal killing, a lot of times the killer will take the time to cover up the body or cover the face with a blanket or a basket. I think we even talked about somebody covering someone's face with a basket one time. Yeah, we did. So, yeah, it's very interesting and it does give police some clues.
Yeah, so they're definitely taking that into note and that will come full circle at the end, actually. So every detective on this case really cared about finding justice for Minnie. For example, although Detective Michael retired two years after this, he claimed that he checked on the status of Minnie's case at least once per year every year after he stopped working on it. But before jumping ahead...
Let's get back to the scene. So police were on the scene immediately. And after a brief comparison to recent missing person reports, the body was confirmed to belong to Minnie. Her cause of death was strangulation, showing a chokehold compression on her neck. But strangely, there were no defensive wounds on her body.
The single most important piece of evidence connecting her to her killer was a semen stain found on the sweatshirt that she had been wearing beneath her red coat. However, the medical examiner found little evidence to support that she had actually been sexually assaulted, so it was not a foregone conclusion that she had been. But neither the red coat she had been wearing nor her black school backpack were found with her in the dumpster.
Now, based on the intimate nature of the crime and the quote unquote care that was taken with the dumping of her body, police had reason to believe that the perpetrator was known to her and had maybe even been close to her. But they did not publicly name who they suspected it may be or even who they were lining up as suspects.
Now, what we'd find out later is that police initially zeroed in on a maintenance worker and a repairman who worked in the apartment building, as well as her own stepfather, Ray. But all three men were cleared of involvement. Minnie's best friend, Kimberly, remembered sadly, quote, "'I carried a lot of guilt with me for years. I made a promise to her in front of her casket that I would figure out who did this to her.'"
Minnie's middle school held a candlelight memorial service for her where her friends and peers sang, read poetry, and released dozens of balloons in her memory. Her principal honored her by saying, "...this was a sweet, lovely person. We're all having a difficult time with this. She was so sweet, such a good person. She was a great kid. Her teachers are heartbroken. Her little friends are heartbroken."
Armed with DNA believed to be her killers, detectives compared their sample against 13 sex offenders in the area, and they found no match. So although they were putting a ton of effort into the case, they weren't coming up with any answers.
The missing persons posters were bringing in few tips, even with a reward of $11,000 being offered. So the kids at her school and in the neighborhood were just distraught and terrified by all of this. And so were all of the parents, of course.
Minnie's friend Kimberly recalled, quote, Especially because they didn't know how Minnie got into that dumpster miles away and nobody saw her getting off the bus. So there's no puzzle pieces being put together here.
to keep, you know, parents' minds at ease and kids' minds at ease. Yeah, all we know at this point is that there's this guy out here who murdered a little 13-year-old girl, and he's still on the loose. Another peer of Minnie's stated, quote,
Some items were sent to the FBI laboratory for further examination, but even that wasn't enough to bring answers or present a suspect in this case. Detectives pursued the murderer persistently for a year with no answers, and the case sadly eventually went cold. The detectives who had teamed up to find answers for Minnie were nearly as devastated as her grieving family. They wanted so badly to close this case.
Though many retired in the years following the investigation, they all circled back to check on developments. So, Michael absolutely was not the only one here. New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson, who worked on Minnie's case, stated, "...the hardest cases that we deal with as medical examiners are those involving children. What was done to her is something that has been haunting me for nearly 20 years since."
When it's a homicide like this, and where there were no really good leads as to who did it, that's the most troubling kind of case for us. 22 excruciating years passed with no resolution for her grieving family.
On the 22nd anniversary of his daughter's slaying, Luis claimed that he was still hopeful that DNA evidence would lead them to his daughter's murderer, reporting, quote, Then, in late November of that year, a suspect emerged from a surprising source. Familial DNA connecting the killer to Minnie via the killer's own deceased father.
and he had actually been a neighbor in the very apartment building in which Minnie and her family lived.
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Joe Martinez, who had been in his 20s at the time, was also a resident of the Pelham Parkway apartment building where Minnie and her family resided.
And he lived just two floors away. Now we're going to post photos so you guys can see. This is a pretty big building. It looks pretty nice. Yeah, about 66 units, right? Yeah, and there's seven floors. I'm literally counting them right now. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Yeah, seven floors and about 66 units. At least that's what it says online. So I don't know if they have built onto it. But yeah, a fairly big, nice building.
So like all the other residents of the building, Joe was questioned when Minnie originally disappeared, but he said what every other neighbor said, that he had seen her around the building frequently, you know, playing or selling candy bars with her sister or doing homework, etc. Like he was familiar with her.
William O'Toole, who was a commanding officer for the NYPD Bronx Homicide Division, recalled, quote,
But, like all her other neighbors at the time, Joe maintained that he had not seen her on that fateful Wednesday evening, and that he had nothing to do with her disappearance. However, after the DNA match,
49-year-old Joe Martinez was arrested on Monday, November 29th, 2021, nearly 23 years after Minnie's death, making him around 26 and twice Minnie's age when the murder occurred, and he was arrested at his home in New Rochelle, New York, just 11 minutes northeast of the apartment complex where he used to live.
NYPD kept their findings concealed until news of the arrest broke, so it was a very disturbing revelation for the community that both Minnie and Joe hailed from. Even more shocking was the fact that Joe was beloved in his borough for the work he did with children. That just makes me so sad.
Thinking that nobody had any idea that this fucking piece of shit was such a predator. Yeah, I know. And he was kind of like a Bill Nye the Science Guy type of person. Like he gave himself the moniker Jupiter Joe due to his passion for astronomy. And he took to the streets to share his knowledge with the locals. Like he would set up a telescope on the sidewalk to offer anybody a view who was curious.
a view of the sky, obviously. So in addition to his work in the community, he ran a YouTube channel and an Instagram page in modern days and was a well-known public figure on the streets of the Bronx. In Joe's own words, quote, "'Jupiter Joe's Sidewalk Astronomy is just a local outreach program. It's a grassroots outreach program that's designed just to bring awareness of the cosmos to the people.'"
Joe, who was born and raised in the Bronx, explained that he had a desire to bring the knowledge of astronomy to people for whom it may not have otherwise been accessible, and especially to kids who had an interest in it.
So aside from what I'm about to say being a passion project for a local, Jill also claimed that it was historical because the Bronx was the scene of a solar eclipse back in the 1920s. And he claims that that laid the foundation for his efforts to keep the interest in astronomy alive and well in his stomping grounds. And he was especially focused on teaching and connecting with children.
So, I mean, really, we can... We're going to talk about this. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but really start thinking about the fact that he lived in Minnie's building. Minnie loved astronomy. He loved astronomy. They knew who each other were. You know what I mean? Like, there is this connection. Right. And, you know, not only is there this... There's this connection to astronomy and the cosmos and outer space, but now we have a connection through DNA, right?
So, how had such a seemingly gentle and nurturing figure been capable of murdering a child? Joe had no history of criminal activity or trouble with the law. And aside from his astronomy outreach efforts, he lived a pretty quiet life.
In the notes from his initial line of questioning, detectives wrote, quote,
Those in the orbit of Jupiter Joe who knew his jovial persona were shocked at this development. The week before his arrest, Joe had suffered a health setback, and his once very active social media was ablaze with comments wishing him well, including one that read, quote,
He had two daughters and was by all accounts a very proud and doting father. It's so gross when male sexual predators have daughters. Oh yeah, it's very... I mean children in general. Yeah, yeah, it's very disturbing. So one of his daughters, simply referred to in the media as A, said that the NYPD came knocking to search her apartment at the time of her father's arrest, explaining, quote, "...the police came to our door and said that they had a warrant. I thought my father had gotten hurt or something."
And she added that she hopes her father is innocent. A colleague of Joe's spoke on his shock at the news of the arrest, saying, "I'm still thinking there's gotta be a mistake." He called Joe a "fantastic guy."
A neighbor of both Minnie's and Joe's named Rosa Gilbey claimed, quote, "I can't believe it, but I'm glad they got him. She was such a sweetheart. She used to do a lot of duties at home, shopping for the mother and stuff like that. Very respected teenager." Another former neighbor of theirs remembered that earlier the very year that Joe was arrested for Minnie's murder, he had returned to Pelham Parkway for a summer block party.
This neighbor who chose not to be identified recalled, quote,
Though the arrest seemed sudden and came as a surprise to those who knew Joe and his work, NYPD detectives had dedicated years to connecting him to the crime.
In late 2017, so four years before he was arrested, New York State began allowing a particular type of DNA test with the specific goal of solving cold cases. Now, this development allowed law enforcement to cycle DNA through a proprietary system to see if the DNA recovered from the scene of a cold case crime comes up with a match to any male relatives in the database.
And at the time of Minnie's murder, the male DNA that was found on her sweatshirt was run through the CODIS database. But because her murderer had never been convicted of a crime, his DNA was unavailable for comparison.
This investigative tool is a lot more inclusive than CODIS is, and it allows law enforcement to run DNA through an advanced software program to see if it matches any male relatives in New York's system. Emmanuel Katranakis, who is deputy chief of the NYPD Forensics Investigation Division, explained, quote,
So it's limited to those convicted offenders, which constitutes about 700,000 in total looking for first order male relatives. In other words, a father, brothers or sons. Emanuel strongly believed that the identity of the culprit behind Minnie's murder could be found utilizing the DNA evidence left on her sweatshirt and wanted a chance to use it.
It took a year and a half of patience and bureaucratic hoops to jump through on behalf of the NYPD, but it totally paid off because a link was found to a family member of the DNA that they had.
It led them to a deceased man, but that discovery led them to his five sons. So the two oldest sons were ruled out based on their age alone, but of the youngest three, two were tested and the DNA found on Minnie's sweater was an exact match to one of them.
Emmanuel continued, quote, We are committed to doing that.
There are many, many people who feel that this particular technique is something that the NYPD shouldn't use. But I say to all the families and victims and all those out there, we should use it and we are going to use it.
To anybody who had doubts about this method's efficiency, he added, quote, And this was actually the first time that DNA matching of this nature was used to solve a cold case in New York City.
At a press conference about the surprising arrest in a 22-year-old case, the Bronx District Attorney, Darcelle Clark, spoke of how proud she was of the city's relentless investigation, saying, quote, "...this beautiful little girl was treated less than human. It has been 22 years since her life was cruelly taken. But detectives never gave up on finding justice for her or her family, and neither did my ADA."
But when the technology was vital, it really was the humanity, dedication, and compassion of the investigators and their relentless drive to get justice in this case. That is why we do this work. I hope today's indictment brings some consolation to the victim's family.
Now, Joe, who was 49 at the time of his arrest, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, which I don't even know why you tried, bro. They got your DNA. "Exact match" are the words. Yeah. Though reporters were throwing dozens of questions his way, Joe remained silent during his arrest. One NYPD officer remarked, quote, "He had that 10-mile stare to nowhere, like, 'How did this happen?'"
He wasn't outraged. He wasn't belligerent. He was not combative. He was not in denial. All hallmarks of a guilty person. His DNA puts him at the scene, and that's a wrap.
However, Joe's defense attorney, Troy A. Smith, told the press, quote, Okay, but that doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't. It's like...
So you did this one crime and then you didn't commit another one or you didn't get caught for it? Like, think about how many years he didn't get caught for this one. Are there others? You know, just because you have not been caught doesn't mean you haven't done anything ever. It also doesn't mean that it's not possible for somebody...
Yeah, I totally agree. So Minnie's family, though relieved, still holds resentment at what could have been. A vibrant life taken far too soon.
Omar Soriano, Minnie's cousin, who said that she was like a sister to him, recalled, quote, Minnie's father, Luis, added, quote, When asked what he thought of the arrest of Joe Martinez, Luis quipped, quote,
Because Joe is staunchly proclaimed that he is not guilty of Minnie's murder, police are still having difficulty piecing together the events of the evening that she was taken, and have even less in mind in terms of a motive.
When asked her guess, Minnie's Aunt Amelia mused, quote, maybe she wanted the telescope. It is difficult, especially because there are no witnesses somehow, even though she was on a city bus. Like, it's not like she was on a lone rural road, you know? She's in the middle of the Bronx, and she's on a city bus, like...
leaving school and nobody knows what happened to her after that. So was he possibly on the bus too? And he said, hey, I want to show you something on my telescope and, you know, was able to get her to a different area because there was no report of her ever arriving at the building they both lived at. So how did they come into contact that day?
Yeah, I mean, it's very possible that they saw each other on this very public bus and maybe he coaxed her back to the apartment building and nobody had seen them arriving there. I mean, it definitely is possible. I don't know if anybody worked in the lobby, so I wonder that as well. But knowing that she was getting on the bus to go to her sister's school, I just don't really see her going home first.
You know, so that's what makes me wonder if on the way to her sister's school, he was there in some way and, again, coaxed her to some area. Like, I don't know. I mean, yeah, the guy's a predator, so it's easy to believe that he was able to manipulate a 13-year-old girl, especially when they had these things in common about, you know, again, about space and cosmos and astronomy. So it's very possible that he was able to coax her...
somewhere. Yeah, it is entirely possible that then 26-year-old Joe had been watching her and set his sights on her just based on the fact that they were neighbors. And like you're saying as well, they had a lot of common interests. And because of their shared hobby in astronomy, it could have also been a crime of opportunity born from this again. Like, do you want to look at something on my telescope or something along those lines?
Kimberly feels that Minnie may have been the reason for Joe's outreach program in the first place, that perhaps he was wracked with guilt over what he had done and spent his life trying to atone for and forget his heinous crime. She mused, quote,
Yeah, but I mean, on top of that, you know, if he did have all this guilt and remorse, then why is he pleading not guilty when they have his DNA on her sweater? He's probably just trying to get away with it as everybody does, you know?
then be a fucking man and own up to it when there's really no other answer. I mean, maybe he doesn't. This is just her theory. This isn't like the fact. But, you know, maybe he didn't really feel bad and he just loved astronomy and kept it going. I really don't know. But Minnie's Aunt Amelia still mourns what Minnie, who now would be 37 years old, could have achieved in her lifetime.
She said, quote,
Which then also really makes you wonder, how did he get her body to that location miles away in a garbage bag with green gaffer tape? Like, how did this disposal occur? Yeah, I'm thinking about that as well because it's like,
Did he have a car? If they did meet on the bus, then is that implying that he didn't have a car and he was using public transportation to get around? So how would you conceal her body to get it that far away? Unless you somehow packed it into a duffel bag and took a taxi or something to this location. But who knows? It's so hard to say without any witness statements at all. There's so many holes in this story.
Her aunt Amelia claimed that the arrest brought them closure, but not relief, saying, quote, I can't explain because I can say I'd be happy because they got him, but the pain is in here. This case has been a historic move for the NYPD, who hope that familial DNA can help bring closure to even more families in the near future.
Joe Martinez has been awaiting trial in prison since November of 2021. So we will keep you guys updated on how that goes. But this just means that Mineralese Soriano's killer is exactly where he belongs. ♪♪♪
Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And on Tuesday, we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. I can't believe that even while having DNA and working so hard from the jump on this case that it took...
over 22 years, almost 23 years to find the guy who did it. But I am so glad that they did. I'm so glad that NYPD worked so hard to make this familial DNA match and that they did. So I just hope that
her family gets even more answers and this case can feel officially closed. Yeah, absolutely. And just the fact that, again, he's claiming that he's not guilty with all of this evidence, this DNA evidence, you know, it's going to come to light. And I hope that one day he can just explain what happened on that fateful day. Absolutely. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Thank you again to William for recommending this story. And we'll see you guys on Tuesday.
Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger.